---

A good use of idioms in Spanish shows a great fluency in the language of Cervantes.

Idioms, expressions and set phrases are already made sentences that are used by most of the people. They are common phrases and each one is built with it’s specific words fixed in a specific order, but the meaning of these set phrases might differ from the literal meaning of the words. So if you know the words in Spanish you can understand some of theses sentences but you won’t have a clue of what others mean unless they are explained to you.

Of course, worst part is that one thing is to know these expressions in Spanish and another very different thing is to be fluent enough to use Spanish set phrases correctly and when appropriate.

We talk about idioms when the phrase doesn’t mean exactly what the words mean but have a non literal meaning. So idiom expressions and phrases have a figurative meaning that is sometimes almost metaphoric.

There are lots and lots of Spanish idioms, and they are used quite commonly in the spoken language, but not so much in the written language. So let’s learn some of them. I will try to translate these idioms from Spanish to English and I will try to explain the meaning so we all have a better understanding of these Spanish phrases.

Spanish set phrases

“¡Se acabó!“: It’s over!. I think it is clear, when we say that we finished something or that something is over. Depending on the tone we use, it can be in better ways or with an angry tone.

“¿Me lo pasas? ¿Me pasas … la sal, el programa, una dirección, un telf. …?“: Can you pass it to me? Can you pass me… the salt, the program, an address, a phone. …?

“¡Allá tú!“: It’s up to you!, You decide!

“Un día sí y otro también“: day in day out, or every single day.

“Estar de humor“: Be in the mood.

“De toda la vida“: Same as ever.

“¿Cómo qué?“: What do you mean?, how come?

“Sin lugar a dudas“: Without a doubt.

Idioms and expressions in Spanish with Use Examples

“Enrollarse como una persiana“, “Enrollarse hablando“: is when you talk a lot to say something that can be said with fewer words. Or when you are too much time speaking.

↪ “No me gusta el nuevo profesor, se enrolla como una persiana y no le entiendo nada“: I don’t like the new teacher, he goes on and on and I don’t understand a thing.

“No tener abuela“: We say “no tengo abuela” about ourselves or “no tiene abuela” about other person when the specific person (for example ourselves) praises himself a lot for something.

↪ “Eva siempre habla del pelo tan bonito que tiene. Sí, no tiene abuela“: Eva always talks about how beautiful her hair is. Yes, she is full of herself (well, we don’t mean it in such a strong sense as calling someone arrogant).

“Herre que herre“: We call “don herre que herre” to a person who is very stubborn with something.

↪ “Todo el año recordándome herre que herre que quería un coche rojo y al final se compró el blanco porque era más barato“: The whole year reminding me once and again that he wanted a red car and in the end he bought the white one because it was cheaper.

“Pegar la oreja” and “estar con la oreja puesta“: This one is similar to “tener la antena puesta”, but in this case is more specific to a particular conversation.

↪ “Ten cuidado con lo que dices, todo el mundo está con la oreja puesta“: Be careful what you say, everyone is trying to listen.

↪ “Ya que vas a poner cafés a la reunión pega la oreja a ver si dicen algo que nos interese“: Since you are going to serve coffee at the meeting, listen to see if they say something that might be of interests to us.

“Tener la antena puesta“: A person has the “antenna on” when they are attentive to see if something specific that interests them is being talked about, or if something of interest happens.

↪ “Está todo el mundo con la antena puesta por alguien sabe y dice algo sobre qué va a pasar con la empresa“: Everyone is paying attention in case someone knows and says something about what is going to happen with the company.

“Hacer el Agosto“: It is said when good deals were made during a short period of time. Or when something specific turns out to be a good deal, but we don’t know if the deal will last long. This Spanish set phrase probably refers to when in August a good harvest was achieved or good business was done with the harvest.

↪ “Pedro está haciendo el agosto vendiendo cajas de cartón a tiendas online“: Pedro is making a good amount of money by selling cardboard boxes to online stores.

↪ “En Julio hice el Agosto alquilando sombrillas en la playa, pero en Agosto se puso a llover“: In July I made a good amount of money by renting umbrellas on the beach, but August was rainy.

“Estar al loro“: This means being aware of something or being up to date.

↪ “Tenemos que estar al loro no sea que se nos pase la hora de ir al médico“: We have to pay attention to the clock lest we miss the time to go to the doctor.

↪ “Estate al loro a ver si descubres algo sobre los nuevos jefes“: Be in the lookout in case you can find out anything about the new bosses.

↪ “Jose siempre está al loro de todo, nunca se le escapa nada“: Jose is always up to date for everything, he never misses anything

“Cocerse algo“: Something is cooking¿?

↪ “Hay muchas reuniones últimamente. Algo se está cociendo pero no sé el qué“: There are many meetings lately. Something is cooking but I don’t know what.

“Rizar el rizo“: Make matters worse (“para colmo“)

↪ “Perdí media mañana en un atasco de tráfico y para rizar el rizo después me pusieron una multa de aparcamiento“: I wasted half the morning in a traffic jam and to make matters worst later they gave me a parking ticket.

“Sacar las castañas de fuego“: Get somebody out of trouble. We say this set phase in Spanish because One always runs the risk of getting burned when removing chestnuts from the fire.

↪ “No sé que toqué y el sitio web de la empresa dejó de funcionar. Menos mal que vino el ingeniero web a sacarme las castañas del fuego arreglándola enseguida“: I don’t know what I touched and the company website stopped working. Luckily the web engineer came to get me out of trouble fixing it right away.

“Dar vueltas a una idea“: When one keeps thinking about one idea.

↪ “Llevo dos días dando vueltas a una idea para un vídeo de YouTube“: I’ve been thinking about an idea for a YouTube video for two days.

“Darle vueltas a la cabeza“: Make somebody’s head spin.

↪ “No dejo de darle vueltas a la cabeza a lo que sucedió ayer“: I can’t stop making my head spin about what happened yesterday.

“Caer chuzos de punta“: Rain cats and dogs.

↪ “Estaban cayendo chuzos de punta y tuve que detener el coche a un lado porque no se veía nada“: They were raining cats and dogs and I had to stop the car to the side because I couldn’t see anything.

¡Acabáramos!: cuando por fin se entiende algo.

De esta agua no beberé:

Salir del armario

Hacerse la boca agua: se me hace la boca agua

Cambiar de aires

A media asta

Estar con el agua al cuello:

Llover a cántaros. (mud pitcher, clay pot, earthen pot)

Buscar una aguja en un pajar

Nunca digas de este agua no beberé

Ni por asomo

Acojonante

Estar mal de la azotea

Descojonarse, descojonante

Reír a mandíbula batiente

Partirse la caja

Dormir como un tronco

A dos velas

Por amor al arte

Consultar con la almohada

Oler a chamusquina

Por todo lo alto

Pasar por alto

Darse aires

Sentirlo en el alma

Estar en el ajo

Estar tieso

Ahuecar el ala

Irse a la francesa

Del ala

Alma de cántaro

Alma en pena

Se me cae el alma a los pies

No poder con el alma

Tener agallas

Dar el callo

Ser de cajón

Cambiar de camisa

Ser un chaquetero

Estar echo unos zorros

Irse zumbando

¡Que te zurzan!

El truco del almendruco

Rasgarse las vestiduras

No se le caen los anillos

Salir rana algo o alguien. I guess because we thought he was a prince, but it turned out he wasn’t.

Hay que darle de comer aparte

Tocarse las narices

Por el mismo rasero

Mandar a hacer puñetas.

Ser como un puño. Ser agarrado.

Limpio de polvo y paja

Aquellos polvos trajeron estos lodos

Estar hecho polvo

Mandar a la porra

Ponerse al corriente. Ponerse al día

Poner en claro

Ser la pera

Ser del año de Maricastaña. Ser de la época de la pera

De perdidos al río

Conocer el percal

Ir en porretas. Ir desnudo

Negarse en redondo

Hablar por los codos

Echar leña al fuego. Alimentar la discordia

Sin comerlo ni beberlo

Irse por los cerros de Úbeda

Meter baza

Ser un hacha

Dar corte

Chapado a la antigua

hacer la vista gorda

Colgar las botas

Hacer el ganso

Estar enganchado a algo

Dar gato por liebre

Hacerse añicos

No eres más tonto porque no practicas

No ver tres en un burro, estar cerrado de niebla

Pasar de todo

A pan y agua

Brillar por su ausencia

Estar al alza

No caber un alfiler

Ir a la zaga

Poner a alguien en su sitio

A ratos

A grandes rasgos

Hacer la puñeta

Ir contracorriente

No tener pérdida

Como de la noche al día

Pasar la noche en blanco

Quedarse en blanco

Permitirse el lujo

Cada loco con su tema

Echar una mano

Estar sin blanca

Irse de la lengua

Colgar los libros, colgar los estudios

Con todas las de la le

Ser de ley una persona